Bringing some political diversity to the race, University of Alberta Political Science Professor Ian Urquhart has announced that he will run as an Independent candidate in the upcoming Senator-in-Waiting election.
Active with the Alberta Wilderness Association, Dr. Urquhart is the first openly centre-left candidate to join the contest. His candidacy gives political moderates and centre-left voters of all stripes an option other than refusing to vote or spoiling their Senate ballots at the polls (the Liberal, NDP, and Alberta Party have chosen not to participate in the Senator-in-Waiting election).
While I was a student at the U of A, I had the pleasure of taking some courses with Dr. Urquhart focusing on public policy and Canadian constitutional politics. He ended up being one of my favourite professors and I look forward to voting for him in the Senator-in-Waiting election.
Meanwhile, the Wildrose Party announced two additional Senator-in-Waiting candidates to join the already nominated Vitor Marciano. Former party president Jeff Calloway and St. Paul gas line operator Raymond Germain will run under their party banner. The PCs have nominated Doug Black, Scott Tannas, and Mike Shaikh. St. Albert Alderman and former Liberal MLA Len Bracko is running as an Independent candidate.
Most of the Wildrose and PC Senate candidates are expected to sit with the Conservative Senate Caucus if elected and subsequently appointed (I have heard some speculation that one of the PC candidates would sit as a PC in the Senate).
